Orlando Montoya: This is GPB News. I'm Orlando Montoya. Georgia is facing a looming deadline to change the way voters cast ballots. State lawmakers last year banned the use of QR codes to tally election results starting July 1. But they also ended their 2026 session without passing a bill to create a replacement system. That's left election supervisors across the state without clear guidance about how the midterm elections in November will take place. The State Election Board was set to meet Wednesday to address the situation. The board could mandate paper ballots, Governor Brian Kemp could call a special session, or courts could intervene to address this issue. On Tuesday, I spoke with Bartow County Election Supervisor Joseph Kirk, president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials. He said the main thing on his mind right now is the May primary elections. Here's our conversation.
Joseph Kirk: That's the next election on the horizon, and we know procedures for that election, staffing, training, you know, ballot proofing, all of the things that go into preparing for election are well underway and I think that's the main thing on most of our minds right now is making sure we have a good primary in May and a good runoff in June. I wouldn't be doing a lot for November right now, even if there was some kind of a change, because we need to address the election in front of us before we can move on to the next one.
Orlando Montoya: I understand that the next deadline is right around the corner, but have you been speaking to your lawmakers about the potential for this change in after, you know, the beginning of the fiscal year?
Joseph Kirk: I have not spoken to many of them since the legislative session. I think we all needed some time and a little bit of rest to keep going. I’m hoping that we start those conversations again soon and start laying the groundwork for what comes next, whether that’s a special session or a legal interpretation from the secretary of state’s office or some kind of a lawsuit. Whatever is coming, we want to be prepared. We’re not sure what that is yet.
Orlando Montoya: And so you mentioned the possibility of a lawsuit. That could come from any number of organizations, but that could also stop the law, correct?
Joseph Kirk: Well, I think rather than stopping the law, the way to talk about it is we have a contradiction in law. We have a lot of code sections that talk about how we conduct elections, that we have to use the same system statewide, you know, deadlines for reporting results, how we test it. With so much stuff that all fits together. Then we have this one other code section that doesn’t really match. And we don’t have a clear path forward for how to comply with that law while we comply with all the other laws at the same time. So there have been assumptions about what that means -- that it means we have to hand mark our ballots, or it means that we have hand count our ballots. But I don’t think any of us actually know that yet. And it may take a judge to determine or a special session that there’s a contradiction law. It’s a dilemma that I can’t solve, but -- that’s what’s ahead of us.
Orlando Montoya: What do you think about being left in this position? I mean, obviously you're preparing for the next election and that occupies a lot of your time, but does it occupy any space in your head?
Joseph Kirk: Oh, absolutely. Especially in my position with the association, having folks turn to me with concerns, looking for answers. It weighs on me. And I’m disappointed to be in this position. We did everything we could to be as helpful as we could to address this issue during the session. But unfortunately, at the end of Sine Die, the -- the bill did not pass. So we are still looking for an answer and a path forward. As we’re having this discussion as a community, as a state, as things are being reported on, I’m concerned about how the voters are looking at this and that it might suppress turnout. It might hurt their confidence in the process, no matter what happens. So I just want to go back to saying that I, we know that we are going to have a good primary election. That’s the same as it has for the last few years. We know we’re going to have an election in November and might take longer. It may be -- it may have different things than they’ve seen before, but it will be an election and I hope they participate.
Orlando Montoya: That was Bartow County Election Supervisor Joseph Kirk, President of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials. I'm Orlando Montoya. This is GPB News.